Generally, one of the driving factors in the design of modern electronics is the amount of computing power and storage that can be shoehorned into a given space. The well-known Moore's law states that the number of transistors on a given device will roughly double every eighteen months. In order to compress more processing power into ever smaller packages, transistor sizes have been reduced to the point where the ability to further shrink transistor sizes has been limited by the physical properties of the materials and processes. Furthermore, the use of more powerful processors in ever-shrinking package form factors leads to a thermal management issue. Increased device operating speeds, along with a greater transistor count on individual components, create heat in amounts that may damage or reduce the efficiency of the components. Furthermore, tighter package integration and more compact device bring more heat generating devices into smaller areas, concentrating the heat generated.
Corresponding numerals and symbols in the different figures generally refer to corresponding parts unless otherwise indicated. The figures are drawn to illustrate the relevant aspects of the embodiments and are not necessarily drawn to scale. For clarity non-essential reference numbers are left out of individual figures where possible.